MPI-guided endovascular therapy of 3D printed human aneurysms

Abstract

Endovascular treatment of human aneurysms with stent grafts is an established therapeutic strategy to treat ruptured and unruptured arterial aneurysms. These stents are covered with a membrane that blocks blood flow to the aneurysm and promotes healing of the vessel. To date, digital subtraction angiography (DSA) has been gold standard for image-guided stent graft application. However, DSA is associated with significant disadvantages including its invasiveness, the need for potentially nephrotoxic iodine-based contrast agents and exposure to ionizing radiation for patients and clinical staff. Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) is a fast and sensitive tomographic imaging technique that uses magnetic fields to visualize superparamagnetic iron-oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs). The advantages of MPI include the background- and radiation-free visualization of SPION-tracers. The aim of this proof-of-concept study was to demonstrate the potential of MPI for image-guided application of covered stents in a 3D printed realistic aneurysm phantom.